Jesus has commanded us to make disciples. The big question is “how are we going to accomplish that?” In this message we look at a training process designed to help disciples reproduce and multiply.
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An Army Of Soldiers Advancing the Kingdom
Revelation 7:9-10
Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Rev.7:9-10, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
So, let’s ask a few questions of this text.
Who does John see? A great multitude which no one could count.
Where did they come from? Every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.
What are they doing? Standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” In other words, they are all ascribing their salvation completely and totally to God and the Lamb!
Brothers and Sisters, I believe this is a picture of the gathered redeemed host of all the ages. The Most High God is going to redeem a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and tongue. And He has given us the awesome privilege of working together under His sovereign authority as His ambassadors, to reach those people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Can there be anything greater than that?
Several years ago I had a dream that I believed was given to me from the Lord. In my dream I saw people going into a building once a week for an hour and a half, singing some songs, listening to a sermon, taking communion, and then going home. The people doing this thought that God must be very pleased with them. However, I remember being very agitated as I was having this dream. Within my spirit I was crying out, “No, No, No!” This is not how the Christian life was designed to be lived! The church is not supposed to be a bunch of people who attend a meeting once a week. They are to be an army of soldiers who are advancing the kingdom of Jesus Christ all the time! That vision of church life has been with me very strongly ever since. I have struggled to find ways to equip, train, and mobilize believers to be that army of soldiers. We have had some success. However, I believe I have come across a process which will help take us to the next level.
Has anyone here ever heard of the phrase “church planting movement”? Do you know what it is? Let me give you a definition. A church planting movement is “a rapid and multiplying increase of indigenous (native) churches planting churches within a population segment.” There are several things in this definition that are important. First, it is rapid. If a few churches are started each year, that is not a church planting movement. Second, it is multiplying. The reason it is multiplying is because indigenous churches are planting other indigenous churches. So two churches becomes four, and four becomes eight, and eight, becomes sixteen, and so on. Third, these churches are indigenous – that is they are native, or home-grown. They are not churches that missionaries from the West come in and plant. They are churches that people from that country plant.
The reason I have told you about Church Planting Movements, is because I want to tell you about someone the Lord has used in one of the fastest growing CPMs in history. His name is Ying Kai. Ying began his work in China in 2001. By the year 2,011 there had been 150,000 new churches planted, and 1.7 million baptisms. Now, of course Yin did not win all of these people to Christ. He was a pastor in Hong Kong. Each year, he could bring 40-60 people to Christ, and plant one new church. Yet, at that rate, it was hopeless to reach his region w/ the gospel. In 2001, he purposefully began to train every disciple to win others to Christ and train them to win others to Christ and train them. You might think these numbers are exaggerations, but this is one of the most carefully documented and fastest growing church planting movements in history. It has been described as a sort of super church-planting movement. It has become so large that it is impossible to track all that is going on. It is clear that an entire Asian region has been saturated with the kingdom of God, and the ripples of its effect are now touching people groups in other countries and continents. Ying called the disciple-making process “T4T”, or Training for Trainers, because he expected every disciple to train others.
I want to give you an overview of the T4T process this morning, because we here at The Bridge are going to begin doing T4T training on Wednesday nights. It is my prayer that each of you will eagerly come to get trained, and then take what you have learned and apply it each week. If we will do this I have no doubt that we will see a harvest, and get to be a co-worker together with God in seeing His elect redeemed and brought into His kingdom.
The Four Fields
The Seed and the World. In Jesus’ parables, He often used the imagery of sowing seeds to yield a harvest. And He tells us what the seed represents. Luke 8:11 says, “Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.” What about the field? Mt.13:38 says, “and the field is the world.” So, the field in His parable is the world. The seed is the word of God. Now, let’s take a look at the 4 Fields Diagram.
Four Different Fields. There are four different fields: the Empty Field, the Seeded Field, the Growing Field, and the Harvest Field. The Empty Field represents your entry plan. In this field you are seeking to discover where God wants you to labor. The Seeded Field represents the gospel plan. In this field you are sowing the gospel seed. The Growing Field represents the discipleship plan. In this field, you are cultivating the new growth, and nurturing new disciples. The Harvest Field represents the church formation plan. In this field, you are helping these new disciples to covenant together to form a church. Then notice the middle section of the diagram. It is entitled Leadership Development and Multiplication. This is the hub of the 4 Fields, and it is what is necessary for the church to labor in all of these four fields.
Now, let’s look at another diagram of the same basic process which will help us to more clearly see this whole process. In this diagram Field 1 = Go. Field 2 = Gospel. Field 3 = Grow. Field 4 = Gather. And the hub that enables the church to work in all four fields is Guide – reproducing leadership. Field 1 is a Reproducing Entry Strategy. Field 2 is a Reproducing Evangelism Tool. Field 3 is Reproducing Discipleship. Field 4 is Reproducing Churches. And the middle hub is Reproducing Leadership. So, you’ll notice that the T4T process helps us to find where to work, labor by sowing gospel seed, disciple new believers, form new churches, and reproduce leaders. It does all of that!
Now, let’s look more closely at each Field.
Field 1 – Go. Jesus told us in the Great Commission, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations.” Our mistake is that we tell people to “Come” to church, whereas we are supposed to be going to the lost. We see an example of this in Jesus’ ministry in Luke 19:10 where we read, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Jesus went into this sinful and dark world. He came for a reason. It was to seek and save the lost. He calls all of His disciples to do exactly the same thing. We are to go to the lost so that they can be saved.
Now, notice that what we are doing in Field 1 is looking for a House of Peace or a Man of Peace. If “Man of Peace” is a strange term to you, take a look at Luke 10:1-11. Notice verses 5-7, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.” So, what is a man of peace, or a house of peace? It is someone that receives you and your message. They are not a Christian, but they are open to the gospel, and willing to learn more. God has prepared them to receive you and your message. When you find a Man of Peace, what are you supposed to do? You are to stay with this Man of Peace in his home. You are to eat whatever is set before you. Now, our context is different from the 70 disciples, but the general principle is clear. When you find a Person of Peace, stay with him, continue to speak to him of the kingdom (vs.9), and pray for miracles (vs.9). In other words, lead him to Christ, and begin to disciple him.
So, how do you find this Man of Peace? Well, notice in the diagram, you look among your friends and family, your work and school. In other words, begin by looking within your own relational network. The Greek word for this is “oikos.” It means “household.” However, the idea of household in the first century, included extended family and servants. It was their relational network. So, start there. If you are unable to discover a Person of Peace there, go to your surrounding community. Now, you will need to be willing to approach people you don’t know. Well, how in the world can we approach strangers to find a Person of Peace? Actually, it’s really not all that difficult. Let me give you a few suggestions.
First, go to an area you want to search, and start by prayer walking. Just start walking through the area, and praying for the people that live in that area. After you have done some prayer walking, start “prayer knocking.” Just knock on the door. When the person answers the door, tell them that you are practicing random acts of kindness. Give them a gift (cookies, candy, breakfast burrito), and tell them that you are out praying for the needs of the community. Then ask them, “If God could do a miracle in your life, what would it be?” If they identify a particular miracle, say, “Can I pray for you right now?” pray for them right there.
Field 2 – Gospel. When you have finished your prayer immediately start sharing your story and Jesus’ story by saying, “You know God did a miracle in my life…” When you are done, ask them a question like, “Would you say you are near or far from God?” or “Is there something keeping you from making Jesus your king?” If they are not interested, just keep looking for the Person of Peace. Now that you have started sharing your story and Jesus’ story, you have entered Field 2.
If they are not ready to follow Christ, but are interested in continuing the discussion, ask them, “When would be a good time for me to come back and share another story?” Also ask them, “Do you know anyone else who would be interested in hearing about Jesus?” When you come back, start sharing the “7 Stories of Hope” with them, with some applicable questions.
If they are interested in following Jesus as Lord, lead them in a prayer of commitment. Immediately teach them how to share their story and Jesus’ story and have them write out a Name List. Encourage them to start sharing with the people on their List.
Arrange a time to start the Commands of Christ with them by asking, “When can I come back and share another story?” and “Who on your Name List do you think would be interested in hearing about Jesus?” If they invite you back, continue to follow Jesus, and start sharing with their friends and family, you have found a Person of Peace.
Folks, our church is in Field 1, and our greatest need is to find a Person of Peace. When we wrote out our Name List, we found that we have very few people that we know that are open to the gospel. So, that means we are going to have to search for a Person of Peace among people we don’t know. So, here is the plan. We need to start sowing a lot of seed. It usually takes some time and a lot of sowing to find your first Person of Peace. We are going to start meeting regularly each Saturday at 10:00 a.m. for the purpose of going out and finding a Person of Peace. I hope you will make a decision to come with us. It might seem a little scary at first, but I assure you, when you see God move in someone’s life, it is very exciting!
Field 3 – Grow. Eventually, you will find someone that you will end up leading to Christ. What do you do then? Do you invite them to come to church with you? Now, that’s what we would all expect, right? Actually, no. The first thing you will want to do, is to start meeting with them regularly to teach them the Commands of Christ. Remember that Jesus told us in the Great Commission that we are to make disciples, baptizing them, and then teaching them to obey everything that He commanded them. So, that’s what we do. We go to their house and begin to teach them the most basic and important commands of Jesus. For about the first 10 weeks we do short-term discipleship, teaching them the Commands of Christ, focused on obedience. After that, we do long-term discipleship, doing inductive bible studies through a book of the Bible. Why? Because we are teaching them how to read and understand the Bible for themselves. We are teaching them a skill they will need for the rest of their lives.
When you meet with them, each week you will work through the Three Thirds process. What is that? Well, when you meet with this new disciple and their family/friends, you split your time up into three thirds. The first third you spend time doing 4 things: Member Care, Worship, Accountability, and Vision-Casting. The second third you learn a new lesson, focused on obeying Christ. The third third, you practice the lesson you just learned, and then set goals and pray about those goals.
Field 4 – Gather. Now, one of the lessons you will teach this new disciple is a lesson on the Church. If a whole household or several people in the new disciple’s relational network come to Christ, then seek to help the new group start seeing themselves as a church. Help them study the Scriptures to see what a church does. Of course, you will help them through this whole process, and give input, direction, and your example, wherever necessary.
Hub – Guide. But, where will you get the leaders necessary for these new churches? Well, where does the farmer get the seed to sow his fields? He keeps some of the seed from his crop to sow the next year. The seed for sowing comes from the harvest. It is the same here. The leaders for the harvest, are raised up in the harvest. This is exactly what the apostle Paul did. Have you ever wondered where the new Pastors came from for the churches that Paul planted? Paul didn’t bring in seasoned pastors from mature churches to pastor them. No, he appointed pastors from those that had recently come to Christ and displayed some maturity in their walk with Christ. As we go through this process, leaders will arise. Some of those we are working with, will rise to the top. They will devote themselves to spreading the gospel and teaching new believers to obey Jesus’ commands. As you see this happening, you know you have a potential pastor for a new church.
My friends, this is the process of making disciples that I’m calling you to today. Will you devote yourself to the work of making disciples? If you won’t, you might as well tell Jesus, “I refuse to obey you.” Are you willing to tell Him that? I don’t think any of you would be so brash as to do that. Now, you might not be comfortable with everything I have shared. You might not know how you will come up with the time to do this. That’s understandable. But, will you pray, and ask the Father to show you how you can begin to do what He has called you to do?
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